Woman charged with accessory after fact

AVON PARK—A 32-year-old Avon Park woman, who authorities say was knowingly harboring a 28-year-old man who had violated probation in Polk County and was suspected in aggravated assault and armed burglary cases in Highlands County, was charged with accessory after the fact.

Jessica Hope Carpenter, 2075 N. Berkley Road, is also charged with resisting officer and obstruction, a misdemeanor charge, because she did not get down on the ground as Highlands County Sheriff’s Office deputies told her to stop her from intervening when they tried to nab the suspect, Pollard Eric Taylor, an arrest report states.

The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Suppression Team had told Carpenter they had received information she was letting Taylor live in her home and use her car, the report states, and the repercussions she could face for harboring him and helping him avoid arrest.

She denied she was doing that, authorities add. While doing surveillance on the home May 16, sheriff’s deputies reportedly spotted Taylor outside the back of the home and pursued him inside when he fled from them, the report states.

Taylor reportedly entered a dark hallway inside the home and gave himself up after several attempts by deputies to get him outside, the report adds.